The Royal Residence at Balmoral was a very quaint granite mock-baronial style castle. It sat in acres of beautifully preserved parkland, from formal gardens to small woodlands and what the British called “Grouse Moors” where they would hunt birds and deer and other British food animals.
Seinu’s room was the one reserved for visiting heads of state, it was cosy, with oak panels, a large fire-place, beautiful windows overlooking the formal gardens. The bed itself was a huge, four-posted thing with more blankets, curtains and pillows than Seinu knew what to do with. Everyone had been given their own bedrooms which was a bit annoying, he’d rather have slept with his pack but apparently decorum and the rules of the house meant everyone had to be given their own room, even married couples like the King and Queen had separate bedrooms.
They’d arrived mid-afternoon and something called Afternoon Tea had been served for them in the library whilst their luggage had been taken upstairs and the final touches to their bedrooms completed. The Prince of Wales and his children had joined them and the youngsters had been very endearing and fascinated by Firi in her full formal armour. His sister had been having a great time whilst Seinu spoke quietly with the Prince, he seemed like the caring sort, who genuinely believed in the various causes and charity efforts he led to try and help people.
Despite this being an “informal” residence without all the pomp and ceremony they still had to follow the briefing rules for the ways and means of British Aristocracy. Which meant at 6pm the dinner gong had been rung informing everyone it was time to head upstairs to their rooms and change. Seinu had wandered up all bemused by the idea of changing not because you wanted to wear something more comfortable or different but because society dictated it before you could have pre-dinner cocktails.
Humming to himself as he used his visor to unlock and open the white and orange chests containing his luggage he started to review the protocol card. Formal dinner on the first night in Balmoral was a white-tie affair apparently. As a visiting head of state he could, according to the protocol sheet, wear formal clothing indigenous to his culture and society. Whilst he was considering which of the formal mantles and Avali outfits would be best for dinner with the King there was a knock on his door and Chantelle walked in.
She was being followed by a large case and Seinu frowned at it suspiciously, “No,” he said straight away, “I am not wearing some horrible white-tie mock up you’ve invented to make me fit in, those collars for the, what do they call them, ‘neck-ties‘ are awful.”
She smiled widely and shook her head, “Don’t worry you will like this I promise, I learnt so much from my time in London with Kathy! I’ve been doing it all wrong and she set me right, at least let me show you this outfit before you decide.”
Seinu frowned but sat on the edge of the bed, “Ok, show me then but I make no promises about wearing it. I have an approved list of outfits from Ka’er’s sister.”
Chantelle opened the crate and lifted out a long green jacket, embroidered with gold-thread. It had an accompanying set of trousers, shirt and a golden half cloak that would wrap around the shoulders more like a shawl before trailing down the back. Seinu picked up the coat and rubbed the material between his fingers. It was soft and sleek, smooth and beautifully woven.
“What is this? This is way better quality then the usual Earthian outfits you’ve been trying to foist on me.”
“Because I was making them out of the wrong materials,” Chantelle explained with a big smile, “See Kathy showed me most of these costumes come from shows, Anime or movies etc. so people buy them to wear for one night to costume parties so they are made from inferior materials, cheap and cheerful is what she called them.”
Chantelle held up the cloak, “But of course if those shows or movies were real they’d be made from properly expensive materials designed for nobles to wear. This is the outfit of…”
“Lord Ferdinand,” Seinu said holding out the coat, “From toward the end of the book series Ascendance of a Bookworm by the author Miya Kazuki, I’ve read it,” he smiled, “I love that anime, Cal made me watch it and I’ve read the entire thirty three book series, it's really good.”
“I know, you haven’t stopped talking about it for a week” Chantelle smiled, “I have a small wardrobe of some of his best ensembles of Noble clothing made from actual real proper fabrics not cheap costume store nylon.”
“Well,” Seinu wavered holding up the coat against his body, “It is nice, I wouldn’t mind wearing this since it’s made from actual proper fabric, but let me guess we’d have to change my crest, my usual mohawkish feathers aren’t going to work with this.”
“I brought everything I need,” she grinned at him, “So will you wear it?”
“Ok…” Seinu said, still wary of giving in, “But don’t go crazy with other ideas, just because I like these outfits doesn’t mean I will wear anything, and show me what you plan to do to my crest before we start.”
Seinu let himself be seated before the mirror as Chantelle began to explain how she intended to re-shape his crest. A bit of trimming but mostly re-styling with a tool that would heat his feathers and allow them to be bent into new shapes. It was a pretty common tool for styling a crest so nothing too untoward. If Chantelle was going to start providing outfits made in luxurious materials he could protest a bit less and go along with them to keep her away from his brothers.
It was going to be quite fun to sweep into the King’s presence dressed up in their own take on Earth noble clothing.
Selenu watched with amusement as the hunting party moved off across the grouse moors. Seinu, Ki and the twins were sitting in the back of one truck whilst Selenu was sitting next to Firi in the truck behind. Everyone was dressed in greens and brown tweed, the lime Avali thought it was all very silly but as they were guests so were playing along as expected.
Chantelle had sourced all their “Hunting tweeds” as per the protocol documents they had been sent. She thought the Royal family and their servants had been actually impressed everyone had turned up wearing the correct sort of outfits, though the twins were in hats only as there wasn’t much you could do with their fur and they refused to go out into the “wild dangerous predator filled moors” wearing clothes that could restrict their movement.
Everyone else was dressed in tweed jackets, sturdy canvas trousers with hats that matched the rest. Except for Firi who was in full armour with Armageddon on her back. Selenu shook her head as the antique jeep started to jounce and jostle along the track toward the heights of the moors, “Why are we doing this again? I know humans are omnivores but this seems very strange for the Royal family to be hunting their own food?”
“It’s tradition and fun,” Firi said softly, “It’s just something they’ve done for centuries so still do today,” she shrugged, “It’ll be interesting to hunt some human food, these deer are supposed to be quite majestic when seen over the moors.”
“And the grouse shooting?” Selenu asked curiously, “What’s behind that?”
“The same I think,” she leant sideways out of the jeep to peer up the hill, “They use other people and dogs to scare the birds up into the air and we stand at a specific spot have to shoot them, the number of birds you shoot down shows your prowess and skill and lets you show off to the others.”
“Ah,” Selenu frowned, “Do all these animals get used as food? Or is this just blood sport?”
“From what the Queen was saying to me at dinner last night everything we hunt today will be used as food, either back at the castle, given aas gifts to the staff or sold at the local market so none of it should go to waste.”
“Well that’s something at least,” Selenu sighed softly, “The humans do so many wasteful things, I don’t mind hunting things but only if we are using it for food,” Selenu looked at her sister for a moment then grinned, “Would it be cheating to use our own weapons?” she glanced at the Armageddon, “I am sure his Majesty would appreciate seeing the mass-manipulator in action.”
Firi lifted the visor on her helmet and smiled at Selenu, her grin was like the sun coming up, “I will ask when we arrive at our destination, I think if I understand it when we arrive at the grouse drive we get assigned groups so everyone gets to shoot from the different positions.”
Selenu chuckled, “Just be polite about it, but that will be interesting, we could offer to make it a demonstration of our “alien” weaponry. Cri and Cal are armed, I’ve got my side-arm and I am sure Chantelle and Seinu are carrying weapons of some kind.”
“Chantelle’s goggles have an emergency laser built in,” Firi said, “Seinu has Reaver with him, he’s carrying it buried inside his body in-case of emergencies, it’s the pistol Naali helped me make at the Forge of Ice so it’s pretty impressive.”
Selenu smiled and touched her goggles, “Let me send messages on the pack channel and suggest this, we can get it all organised before we arrive and suggest it to the King,” Selenu paused however and peered at Firi, “Wait how do we have so many weapons this close to the King?”
Firi paused for a moment and then laughed, “Because the humans are useless and haven’t scanned anyone, ok possibly suggest we send back the shuttle for them and have a drone bring us a box and we’ll “collect them” when they “arrive.”
“Good idea,” Selenu chuckled, “We don’t need to create a security incident,” she resumed typing a message to the pack channel, fingers dancing gently in the air interfacing with the haptic controls for her glasses that only she could see.
After they arrived at the shooting range the King made a show of explaining the rules of how it would work. How they would all take turns swapping out on the various positions as position 1 was apparently the best place to shoot from. Firi then made her proposal to the King to demonstrate some Avali hunting weapons during one of the drives and he readily and happily agreed.
After making a bit of a show of summoning their weapons via a drone from their secure luggage they settled in to take part in the initial drive. The humans used quite primitive solid weapon rifles that fired slugs of metal using a combustible powder ignited by a metal catch. It was actually kind of fun to use them and the Avali proved to be pretty good shots, they even took off their various eye-wear to prove to the humans they didn’t need technological backup to shoot well with their hunting rifles.
They were very noisy however but it was a rather entertaining morning, then there was lunch! It was ridiculous, they had tents and tables, silver-wear and carpets. All the comforts one might have had back in the house set up inside a pavilion overlooking the moors, it was beautiful but incredibly extravagant; especially with servants in full starched black and white livery on hand to serve them. Seinu chatted quietly and confidently with the King and the various government ministers and a few of their captains of industry. All of them had been invited along for today's hunt.
It was ridiculous that so many important people just happened to be in the Highlands of Scotland, hundreds of miles from the capital. It was laughable but the chance for Seinu to make friends with useful humans wasn’t to be sniffed at and he was genuinely the centre of attention next to the King. The new outfits Chantelle had designed and the way Seinu had submitted to having his crest re-designed to match was turning heads last night when he had swept into the pre-dinner cocktails dressed like a noble from one of his Earthian fantasy books everyone had been looking. All the humans had been in black trousers and jackets with white shirts and uncomfortable ties and Seinu had glowed in extravagantly tasteful clothing, the rich velvet, silk and linen had matched his crest-style perfectly and he’d owned the room. The combination of rich sumptuous materials and colours with a little hint of Avali tech had won the humans over.
Of course Selenu and Ki had been there wearing formal outfits and Chantelle’s gown had been breath-taking but they had followed the subdued black and white theme of the British white-tie formal dress. Seinu had stood out simply because of the colours and the sumptuous luxury of the materials.
Today he was in similar tweeds, green and browns like the rest of them but Chantelle had adjusted the cut and flow of his clothing so he once again stood out. The cape was the real crowning achievement today, it billowed, it flowed in the wind and was expertly arranged, hanging over one shoulder to catch the wind as he posed with the rifle to take a shot at the animals overhead. Apparently Chantelle had a whole wardrobe of outfits ready for him to wear, the original ideas were taken from a mixture of historical and fantasy sources but she’d made them out of real luxury noble materials instead of cheap cos-play fabrics and Seinu had all but tossed over his rejections to wear them.
Selenu knew her twin brother, he was revelling in dressing up, he enjoyed the fancy clothing even if he pretended he didn’t. It was their brother’s big secret, Seinu gave in to spare the rest of her brothers from having to wear the elaborate outfits Chantelle tried to foist on them in her pursuit of fashion. It was fascinating to watch him work, however, and after lunch the King and Seinu led the way back to the hunting range.
Everyone gathered around the Avali style drone as Selenu made a show of using her authorization as Captain to unlock it. She then handed out the weapons that Firi had quietly collected earlier and slipped into the box. Cri and Cal were first, demonstrating the skills they had learnt to be Seinu’s body-guards. Cri was incredibly good with the Avali rifle, beams of laser light flickering through the sky with calm measured precision. The twin pistols Cal was trained with cracked off duel blasts of plasma to drop birds from the sky with ease.
Selenu and Ki then took a turn demonstrating the smaller hand-weapons they were used to using and Chantelle did a demonstration with an Avali hunting drone. Firi had decided to keep the unusual power-rating of her goggles a secret and the humans loved the drone. Chantelle made a big deal about how it was in no way as skilled as their rifles, as her goggles helped her drive and control the drone but it was just enough flash and sparkle to entertain them all.
Then it was Firi’s turn. Seinu wasn’t showing off because as the “Host” of their party it would have been uncouth, and Firi didn’t want him removing the Reaver from where he had it stored as it was meant for emergencies. She walked forward, in her black armour, the helmet with the long pointed beak like visor sparkling in the late afternoon sun. She flexed her right hand out sideways and the Armageddon detached from the back of her armour with a soft “whum” of electromagnetics. It spun through the air and she gripped it casually in one gauntleted fist as the hammer head started to glow and spark.
“This is Armageddon,” she said softly, her voice carrying over the crowd, “I created it in the Forge of Ice, a sacred tech-forge on Avalon that only the Avali Defenders are permitted to use.”
“May I ask what the Forge of Ice is?” one of the watching crowd called out and Firi smiled at them brightly.
“It is the place where the Defenders make our weapons and armour,” she looked around the crowd and hefted the hammer a bit higher, “My hammer, the armour I am wearing, the weapons Cri and Cal wield, all were forged there.”
She pushed her helmet up so she could look everyone in the eyes, the crowd were leaning forward, eager for the story, “These days it is a modern Avali facility, a Forge stocked with the most modern fabrication technology we Avali have. But legend has it that the original forge was created over three thousand years ago by the original Defender.”
She span her hammer by the haft, causing it to emit a soft “Whum-whum” sort of as the hammer head clicked apart, revealing strange glowing lights in the interior, “Legend state that the aliens who seeded Avalon with uplifting tools gifted it to the Original Defender so that they may protect the early civilisation of Avali with the finest of weapons. To this day only Defenders and their packs may enter the Forge of Ice and only those chosen by an active Defender can wield and wear the items made there.”
“It sounds a bit like our fabled King Arthur,” the King said into the hushed silence that followed, “His wizard Merlin provided the King with swords and armour that only the Knights of the Round table could use, their honour and chivalry was beyond question.”
Firi nodded graciously toward the King and smiled, “There are parallels, I guess every society has an order dedicated to honour and truth. Our Defenders still exist today and I believe you still have Knights.”
She smiled at him, well aware that modern day British knights were rarely appointed for their honourable deeds. Most of them were rich people with powerful friends, the few token appointed from the common people for the good works they did were all a PR show. But it didn’t hurt to curry favour with their Earthian allies.
“Now who is ready to see what I can do with Armageddon?” she hefted the hammer and its head seemed to grow larger, re-configuring itself for them all to see, “I will admit this is a bit over-kill but…”
She swept it around as a flock of grouse flew over the hill, startled into the air by the hunts men and with a soft pulse of purple light the entire flock suddenly dropped out of the sky, raining down on the earth below, all twenty or so birds, “That was a low powered kinetic pulse, would you like to see what else I can do?”
The humans cheered in awe, and after all the oohs and aahs they all wanted to see more, and Firi smiled quietly, “Well I hope you have enough birds your majesty.”
The King smiled and assured her that the estate could easily cope and so Firi proceeded to capture the next flock of birds in a gravity net and after that she ran through a series of other impressive feats with the hammer and its mass manipulation field. From capturing one single bird to firing the built in weapons hidden about her armour. It was an entertaining afternoon and replaced the deer-stalker part of the hunt so that when everyone returned to the castle they were in good spirits after an entertaining day of hunting.
Cal stepped out of the black cab and looked up at Charing Cross Station, it was an impressive stone structure. Clearly classical and well cared for but whilst the upper stories were clearly classical the ground floor was all modern looking shops, glass windows and slightly slick, shiny plastic like linoleum flooring. The crowd of reporters started taking photos, the click of cameras and flash of lights blended into the cacophony of questions being shouted in their direction.
Cal ignored them as he’d been taught, taking a few steps to the side and waited as first Seinu then Cri climbed out of the car after him. Seinu paused to offer the reporters a smile before turning away from them to walk over to examine the Eleanor Cross itself. It was a tall stone obelisk covered in carvings, small statues and religious iconography showing the historical event the station was named after. According to Cal’s visor it was a replacement built in 1864, a memorial for an ancient British Queen erected by her husband; the original was pulled down during the British Civil War and it wasn’t until the train station opened that the replica was built.
Beyond the cross, spilling out over the actual road of the Strand was quite a crowd being held back by the police and barriers. Many of them had banners celebrating Cal or Firi and Illuminate flags were quite prominently being waved back and forth alongside the Union flag. The public had turned out in spades to make their approval heard, it was quite nice and the crowd started to cheer enthusiastically when the Prince and Princess of Wales climbed out of their car and joined Seinu by the Eleanor Cross.
“I wasn’t expecting the crowd,” Seinu said quietly as he raised a hand to wave, “What are they all here for?”
“They like you,” the Prince murmured, “Thank you for inviting us to join you, it never hurts to be standing next to the current popular group.”
Seinu chuckled, “It will be nice to have you with us, but I think that group are mostly here for Cal,” he turned to look at the bunny and beckoned with one hand, “Come on Cal, why don’t you and Cri go greet your fan club before we head into the station?”
“We are meant to be on guard duty,” Cal said, rejecting the idea quickly but Seinu shook his head.
“You aren’t, neither of you are, I made it quite clear last night we are all being protected by Firi and the various royal protection officers and the Avali spec-ops pack, this is a holiday, now scoot, go shake some hands whilst we wait for the others.”
Cri came up beside him and smiled, “You deserve a bit of time in the spotlight.”
“I hate it,” Cal muttered to his brother as he let himself be led toward the barriers holding back the crowd, “All these eyes on us, a huge crowd, how does Sher do this several times a week. We are meant to be stealthy and stay hidden, not be the centre of attention.”
“Different world, different rules,” Cri said in reply then grinned, taking a step back and pushing Cal forwards, “Now go be gracious, they’ve stood out in the cold all day for a chance to see you.”
Cal sighed, then straightened his hat and walked over to the barrier and the group of people waving a banner with his face on, “Hello everyone,” he shouted to be heard, “It’s good to see you all.”
The crowd cheered and Cal smiled and spent a few minutes talking to those closest to the front. Behind him he was vaguely aware of the cars moving off to let others into the car park area in front of the station so they could park up and disgorge more Avali. Chantelle, Selenu and Kathy got out of the second car. The third car was Ka’er and one of his sisters, Cal thought it was Te’er but wasn’t sure he could never tell them apart.
Raising one hand as the last of the cars departed, Cal waved, “It was lovely to meet you all, see you soon.”
The crowd cheered and Cal moved back over to the others and started inside, “Where is Firi?”
“She is on duty,” Seinu said with a smile, pausing by the door with the Prince and Princess as a sonic boom suddenly echoed. The windows rattled, the crowd fell silent and with a flash of orange light Firi phased into sight perched atop the Eleanor Cross. She raised the Armageddon in salute before jumping down to join them.
After a moment of quiet the crowd burst into cheers, chanting Firi’s name as she paused to wave at them all, “Well this is fun,” she murmured to the others as she stood next to them in her armour, “I am not usually so up front and public.”
“Liar,” Selenu muttered back, “I get to read your mission reports, you’re the most flashy and public defender going and you love it.”
Firi smirked but didn’t deny it as she waved at the crowd.
“It’s a good distraction,” Ka’er said softly, “And the Earthians love you, it can’t always be clandestine drops and covert missions, being a Defender sometimes means being a public personality.”
“I know,” Firi said as she walked through the arch into the station with them all, “But I have to pretend to hate it or K’ask will stick me with public tours, we all get training on public appearances. I just prefer a real fight to all this grand-standing.”
“Well I can’t promise you any real fights,” the Prince said with a chuckle, “This is meant to be a peaceful tour of Europe to make up for Cal being kidnapped but hopefully once we are aboard the train you can relax?”
“That’d be nice,” Firi laughed, “I want to try wearing some of the fancy new clothes Chantelle has come up with instead of just my armour, now then lets go see this fancy train.”
Cal chuckled and started through the station, he had to admit the station building itself was a bit disappointing compared to some of the real fancy ones he’d seen before. There were traces of the history, the big clock and stone upper stories but everything at ground level had been ripped out, modernised and turned into brand shops and horrible looking modern barriers.
It was clearly functional as a train station but lacked the historical feel one expected from London. The platforms were dark and dingy too but the train was well lit and pretty. Royal Blue panels, gold detailing and elegantly appointed interiors. The Conductor who greeted them was bright and friendly in their crisp uniform and peaked cap and he showed each of them to their rooms. Cri and Cal had adjoining single berths and Seinu was next-door then the Prince and Princess in a double, Kathy and Ki filled the rest of their carriage whilst the rest of the pack was down inside the next one along.
Cal checked his room before pulling off his hat and scarf, he left them on the bed and went searching for Seinu. The silver Avali was in his room and he smiled as Cal walked in, reaching down to ruffle his short spiked hair, “Hello you, how are you doing?”
Cal clambered up to sit next to him on the bed which was currently folded away to make a sofa, all cushions and cosy blankets, “I am ok, glad I get to do this train journey with you this time,” he smiled up at Seinu, “Me and Cal had a big talk too and are doing ok now I think… he’s really trying to consult me first before making decisions.”
“This is good,” Seinu smiled, “And I am looking forward to this trip, even if we have to do a bit of politics, they’ll be special guests joining us in a few cities for politics with the Prince and the Ambassador but most of it should be just us enjoying the train journey between cities.”
“It’s really fun,” Cal waved a hand toward the windows, “Watching the countryside roll past as we travel from city to city is lots of good fun, the food is nice and I was enjoying seeing all the wildly different cities before you know...”
Seinu chuckled softly and gathered him into a hug, “Well no kidnapping this time I promise, of course it should never have happened, if anything happens to you again I think Firi might collapse their local star.”
Cal giggled, “She can’t do that, I know for a fact you Avali can’t blow up stars.”
“Maybe not,” Seinu stroked Cal’s ears gently, “But she can cause a solar flare that’d engulf the planet for several weeks and strip their atmosphere off whilst destroying every electronic device they have,” Seinu stuck his tongue out and shook his head, “You’d be surprised what you can do to damage a planet that leaves the rest of the Solar system unharmed.”
Cal thought for a moment, then looked up at Seinu and grinned, “Can we cancel the train trip and go do that?” he joked, “That sounds like it’d be really pretty to see and fun!”
Seinu laughed and stood up, “No, no giant solar flares, but,” he offered Cal his hand, “Want to show me the rest of the train?”
“Sure,” Cal took his hand and tugged the Avali after him out into the hall, “Let’s pick up Cri and Kathy and we’ll show you the whole thing, there is a saloon car which is just a fancy word for a lounge, the dining car, the library car, it’s all real fancy you’ll love it.”
Seinu chirped that he probably would and Cal set forward leading the Avali along toward the rest of the train as outside people carried on loading their luggage and getting the train ready for departure; it was going to be a fun trip!
To be continued…